The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1887-02-17
AFTER MANY DAYS.
The Star of Bethlehem to Ap
pear Again.
a Remarkable Astronomical Event Pre-
dicted for this Year.
Exchanged

among theologians and astronomers
in the possible if not expected appear
ance this year of the famons star that
has been known for several hundred |
years as the ssStar Of Bethleham,"
whose radiance it is alleged showed
Casper, Balthazer and Melchior, the |
Three Wise Men of the East, where !
the cradle of the infant Saviour lay.
About no other object in the universe
is there so much OF romance or SO
much of enthusiastic interest of a.
purely sentimental character felt as
about this great blazing luminary
which is brilliant enough to be seen at
MONDAY, blazing in full splendor,
undimmed BY the shining glitterance
of the unclouded sunlight. 1t has a
strange power for it, indeed, alone of
all other things in the universe, has
united Science and Religion by a bond
of common interest and will engage
upon its appearance the rapt attention
of the infdel scientist equally with
that of the devout priest. The latter
says that it heralded the birth Of God
in human form, and certainly it has
done, by engaging scientist and theo
Logan upon common platform, what
nothing short Of God or direct
nunci0 of God, was heretofore sup
posed able to do.
In 1872 Tycho Brahe, the renowned
Danish astronomer saw on the even
ing of November L star shining out
in the constellation Of Cassiopeia,
where no star had been observed
before in the memory of man. But
the extraordinary brilliance and lumi
misty of this star were the points Of
chief interest. 1t far surpassed Venus
at the latter's period of greatest eff
fuigence More than this. For days
| and weeks thereafter this strange guest
of the MOI thern heavens was visible at
high noon Of sunny days, shining with
a magnihcence of luster that was
unequDlled by anything in the heavens
but the sun or moon. 1t gradually
waned, however, and by the 18th of
March, 1878 it was not visible to the
naked eye AS the modern re-dis-
c)very Of the telescope did not take
place for more than thirty years there
af,er, it therefre practically became
extinct. AS no astronomical record
had been kept in Europe since long
before the fall of the Roman Empir
any previous appearance of such
bright star at anything like asynchro-
nically periodical date could only be
, supported by tradition. Such tradition,
however, was not absent. In 1857,
according to tradition, such star had
appeared in the same quarter of the
: armament, as also in 942. There is
no doubt of such appearances, and
S color was consequently lent to the
t vaguer and DINNER accounts of similar
Y appearances in 627, in 3I2 QonG
| known as the Star of Constantine The
2 Gre t. which with the demonstrated
4 appearance in 3 B, c. (the true yea
l Of the birth of Christi makes the CYCLE
|. complete. It's temperance, therefore
/, in this year is sufficiently probable t.
D Justify the intense interest felt in tn
a matter by such diverse classes of peo
a pie as Christians and skeptics.
1t must not be forgotten, however
i that tradition goes back Of the birth c
our Saviour in connection with a sta
d as we'll as afterwards. Chalcidus, tn
% Platonic philosopher, bears testimon
v emphatic of the appearance of tt
Il "Star of Bethlehem" in the year 3 |
4. c., SO the fact of this star having al
it peared at that time is indisputabl
tv Julian the Apostate endeavorS to col
n meet it with the famous star, AsapI
e. OF the Egyptians whose period W:
a four hundred years. 1t is a lamentab
of pity that the records Of the Egyptian
rv are either destroyed or hidden ava
of especially her astronomical anna
ut The stone-lipped Sphinx of that lar
ut of silence and symbolism guards wt
its tie secrets of her shadowy past. I
en- astronomical records of Chaldea a
es. also lost or, for the present at lea
hopelessly buried under the drift
centuries. Teutonic Christians a.
-b- Saracen unbelievers alike united
Ire destroying the priceless treasures
Greek thought and Roman Ia
ur- especially of scientific chronology,
ICE we cannot appeal to the inestimat
valuable bookcases of Alexandria,
Cos. or. of Halicarassus. We hs
nd hitherto disdained to seek intormatl
to among the Indians or the Chine
nee and regard Persia as land OF noma
inc slave stealers rather than as the site
to the greatest empire OF antiquity
ing empire that fell heir to the intellect
md as we'll as to the material wealth
the Egypt, OF Assyria, of Chaldea and
of Cush. So we can only grope afte
poor blind fashion in the dark on S